Spirituality is recognized as a key facet of a person's sense of self and wellbeing. In the UK 73% of psychiatrists reported no religious affiliation compared to 38% of their patients. 92% of psychiatrists in Britain believed that religion & mental illness were connected & religious issues should be addressed in treatment.

Audit Spirituality Assessments conducted in new cases admitted to hospital and new cases seen in clinic over a 3 month period(July-September 2009) in adult/elderly services.

Demographic data was collected from electronic patient records and casenotes/clinic assessment letters were reviewed for evidence of taking a spiritual history. Guidance for how to take a spiritual history was sought from Royal College of Psychiatry guidelines and recently published journal article (Advances in Psychiatric Treatment.May 2007;13:212-219). Evidence of a brief screening of spirituality, followed by a more detailed assessment were recorded.

75 cases were reviewed of which 39 were male and 36 female. There was an even distribution of age within the sample over 7 decades from age 20 to age 90. Of the 75 cases, only 2 (2.7%) had a brief assessment of their spirituality whilst the larger majority (97.3%) had no assessment. No detailed assessment of spirituality history was conducted.

The results indicate that assessment of spirituality is very poorly conducted in this sample and there is need for development. Recommendations from the audit include facilitation of further training in religion and spirituality history taking and for such training to be encompassed within induction training of junior doctors.